REFLECT

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reflect mean? 

• REFLECT (verb)
  The verb REFLECT has 7 senses:

1. manifest or bring back

2. reflect deeply on a subject

3. to throw or bend back (from a surface)

4. be bright by reflecting or casting light

5. show an image of

6. give evidence of a certain behavior

7. give evidence of the quality of

  Familiarity information: REFLECT used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REFLECT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they reflect    ... he / she / it reflects   
Past simple: reflected   
Past participle: reflected   
-ing form: reflecting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Manifest or bring back

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

This action reflects his true beliefs

Hypernyms (to "reflect" is one way to...):

designate; indicate; point; show (indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reflect deeply on a subject

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

chew over; contemplate; excogitate; meditate; mull; mull over; muse; ponder; reflect; ruminate; speculate; think over

Context example:

The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate

Hypernyms (to "reflect" is one way to...):

cerebrate; cogitate; think (use or exercise the mind or one's power of reason in order to make inferences, decisions, or arrive at a solution or judgments)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reflect"):

premeditate (think or reflect beforehand or in advance)

theologise; theologize (make theoretical speculations about theology or discuss theological subjects)

introspect (reflect on one's own thoughts and feelings)

bethink (consider or ponder something carefully)

cogitate (consider carefully and deeply; reflect upon; turn over in one's mind)

question; wonder (place in doubt or express doubtful speculation)

puzzle (be uncertain about; think about without fully understanding or being able to decide)

consider; study (give careful consideration to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

reflective (devoted to matters of the mind)

reflective (deeply or seriously thoughtful)

Sense 3

Meaning:

To throw or bend back (from a surface)

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

reflect; reverberate

Context example:

Sound is reflected well in this auditorium

Verb group:

reverberate (be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves)

Domain category:

acoustics (the study of the physical properties of sound)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reflect"):

reverberate (be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves)

mirror (reflect as if in a mirror)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

reflector (device that reflects radiation)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be bright by reflecting or casting light

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

reflect; shine

Context example:

Drive carefully--the wet road reflects

Hypernyms (to "reflect" is one way to...):

emit; give off; give out (give off, send forth, or discharge; as of light, heat, or radiation, vapor, etc.)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reflect"):

resplend (be resplendent or radiant; to shine brightly)

glare (be sharply reflected)

opalesce (reflect light or colors like an opal)

luminesce (be or become luminescent; exhibit luminescence)

coruscate; scintillate; sparkle (reflect brightly)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

reflective (capable of physically reflecting light or sound)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Show an image of

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

her sunglasses reflected his image

Hypernyms (to "reflect" is one way to...):

show (make visible or noticeable)

Domain category:

optics (the branch of physics that studies the physical properties of light)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Give evidence of a certain behavior

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

His lack of interest in the project reflects badly on him

Hypernyms (to "reflect" is one way to...):

attest; certify; demonstrate; evidence; manifest (provide evidence for; stand as proof of; show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes)

Verb group:

reflect (give evidence of the quality of)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 7

Meaning:

Give evidence of the quality of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

The mess in his dorm room reflects on the student

Hypernyms (to "reflect" is one way to...):

attest; certify; demonstrate; evidence; manifest (provide evidence for; stand as proof of; show by one's behavior, attitude, or external attributes)

Verb group:

reflect (give evidence of a certain behavior)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reflect"):

mirror (reflect or resemble)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

I began to reflect whether I had done anything to offend her; and my conscience whispered me that I had not yet told her about Dora.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I was overcome by gloom and misery and often reflected I had better seek death than desire to remain in a world which to me was replete with wretchedness.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Holmes smiled at the astonishment of Hopkins, which must have been reflected upon my features.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He had caught sight of his reflected face.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The variety in the properties of gap junctions is reflected in the number of connexins, the family of proteins which form the junctions.

(Gap Junction, NCI Thesaurus)

It defines five patterns or grades which reflect decreasing differentiation.

(Gleason Grading System, NCI Thesaurus)

Receptor sequestration reflects the dynamin (Dyn)-dependent endocytosis of GPCRs via clathrin-coated pits.

(GPCR Desensitization Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

I reflected, and thought, on the whole, I had.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A genomic biomarker could, for example, reflect: the expression of a gene; the function of a gene; the regulation of a gene.

(Genomic Biomarker, NCI Thesaurus)

All day the drums rumbled and whispered, while their menace reflected itself in the faces of our colored companions.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)